GROUP MOVEMENT L.A. 11.23.13

GROUP MOVEMENT L.A. 11.23.2013 from Haruko Tanaka on Vimeo.

Ladies and Gentleman, please put your hands together for Group Movement!!

A huge thank you to all the Group Movers, friends and family, the Armory Center for the Arts Pasadena and the JACCC and Mr. Isamu Noguchi for helping us make this happen!!! For the first time and for the grand finale we were on terra firma. The video is currently being edited and will be posted here very soon!!

Thank you to Kevin McCarty and Tuni Chatterji for shooting the video and to Zuty Lorz for photo documentation!!

Our grand finale this Saturday in Little Tokyo!!

"The Plan"

We will be unveiling (and filming) our group movement efforts this Saturday at the Noguchi Plaza at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (244 S. San Pedro St, Los Angeles, CA 90012). We'll be putting on the last touches and practicing from 10am, and then at 11:15 we will be performing out routine for family and friends (and the cameraaaaah). 

Wrong and strong made it all alright!!

Throwing caution to the wind, in just our second week together, we went all out American on shudan koudou and ran the entire routine AND IT WORKED!!! A big big thank you to group movers Amy Inouye, Kris Kuramitsu, Irene Tsatsos, Ellie Viray, Seema Kapur, Kate Brown, and Sara Roberts!!

We made a right turn!! Together!!!

Session 2 takes place this Saturday, November 16, from 10am-12noon at Pasadena Memorial Park (right across the street from the Pasadena Armory Center for the Arts). Please consider joining us for some walking, laughs, and good company. No experience necessary!! We're all working this out together!

A big thank you to Kate Brown for the wonderful photographs!!

Group Movement - a group work and walk

OG Group Movers from left to right: Sara Roberts, Kate Brown, Jasmine Orpilla, Melanie Nakaue (not pictured), Irene Tsatsos, Bia Gayotto, Kris Kuramitsu, Ellie Viray, and Amy Inouye

We did it!!!! We delved right into a few of the basics, walking and working it out altogether along the way. Group Movement LA was truly a collaborative effort as we all figured out the most effective way to call out the moves so that they registered quickly in our minds and our bodies.

Session 2 here we come! Looking very forward to meeting additional new group movers this Saturday!! In Session 2 (this Saturday on November 16) we will be doing an overview of what we covered Week 1 and then jumping right into our routine (which will be filmed in Session 3). 

On the eve of when it will all begin.....

...and when ideas turn into action. While checking and reviewing notes, scrutinizing the movements in the video, one can't help wonder if this is what it was like in the 70's and 80's when folks outside of New York had started to hear about hip hop and break dancing; as they reviewed snippets of videos trying to glean a way to move their bodies the same way. No rules. Only the willingness to try. Group Movement here we come.